Hosiery of thermoplastic yarn and method of knitting the same



HOSIERY OF THERMOPLASTIC YARN AND NIETI-IGD OF' KNITTING THE SAM A. J. COBERT Sept. l3U, 1958 I OQSE 57776/7615 F01? FULL 659576# Filed Feb. 28, 1956 h I I 6MM gan I United States Patent HOSIERY 0F THERMOPLASTIC YARN AND METHOD 0F KNITTING THE SAME Arthur J. Cobert, Chattanooga, Tenn., assignor to Beautiful Bryans, Incorporated, Chattanooga, Tenn., a corl The present invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of hosiery from thermoplastic yarn, and more particularly to a hose and method of knitting the same.

Hosiery knitted from thermoplastic yarn in accordance with the invention is of the general type which is shaped in part by controlling the number and character of the stitches making up each successively knitted course of the fabric, and is then given its final form by boarding by means of which the hose is stretched and pressed on accurately shaped forms.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved hosiery blank knitted from thermoplastic yarn, and a method of knitting the same, having a novel arrangement of the stitches and of the courses making up the fabric, which is readily stretched and pressed by boarding to impart a permanent set of exactly the desired shape to the finished hose.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a simplied and improved form of hosiery blank knitted from thermoplastic yarn which is well adapted to be knitted on a full-fashioned at knitting machine, and in which variations in loop length and variations in course length are combined in a novel manner to produce a simplied and at the same time a readily molded blank which is Well adapted to hold its size and shape during the life of the hose.

The hosiery blank which forms the subject matter of the invention is in the form of a ilat blank adapted to be knitted on a straight bar knitting machine of the general type employed for the knitting of fully shaped fullfashioned hosiery.

In the preferred form of the invention shown the blank leg and foot portions of the flat hosiery blank are knitted from courses having each the same number of stitches. These courses are made up of an average number of stitches which is less than the number which would normally be employed in a full-fashioned hosiery of the knitting of the welt and upper portion of the leg, and is in excess of the number which would normally be used in the knitting of the ankle and heel. The length of the stitches of successively knitted courses of the leg and heel is controlled to provide very loose stitches in the welt. The stitches of the courses forming the upper leg are tightened and the stitches in the lower calf and heel portions of the hosiery are still further tightened so that in the subsequent boarding operation the leg may be readily stretched to and set by the boarding operation in the desired shape.

The foot portion of the blank is then given the desired shape by reducing the number of stitches, as by narrowing iirst in the upper portion of the foot adjacent the heel, and again in the knitting of the toe, to form a fully shaped foot.

Reinforced areas are provided in the-heel and foot by means of reinforcing yarns fed by short course carriers. In the illustrated construction the inner selvage edge of the reinforcing area of the heel is carried inwardly to form s 2,853,861 Patented Sept. 30, 1958 an inward bulge of the inner selvage edge at the heel which substantially offsets the heel bulge which is subsequently formed in the outer selvage edge of the heel portion of the hose by the subsequent boarding operation, so that by stretching the heel and ankle portion of the hose will cause the line `of the inner selvage edge at the heel to be straightened out.

The several features of my improved hosiery, together with the advantages to be obtained thereby will readily be appreciated by one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic View of the hosiery blank embodying therein several features of the invention, the outline of the blank in the form which it is knitted being shown in solid lines, and the outline of the blank as it would appear if laid out liat after the seaming and boarding operations being shown in dotted lines; and

Fig. 2 shows in side elevation the operation of boarding the hosiery on a conventional boarding form.

The at hosiery blank illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings as embodying in a preferred form several features of the invention is knitted on a straight bar knitting machine which may be of the general type employed for the knitting of full-fashioned hosiery including a narrowing frame having narrowing points adapted for reducing the number of loops in successively knitted courses, short course carriers and the control mechanism therefor adapted for producing shaped reinforced areas in the heel and sole of the hose, and devices for controlling the length of the stitches in each knitted course.

Referring particularly to Fig. l of the drawing a hosiery blank 10 knitted in accordance with the invention is shown comprising a blank having the welt 12, leg 14, ankle 15 and heel 16 portions thereof of a generally rectangular shape with the two selvage edges of the blank from the welt to the heel in parallel relation. This entire area is knitted with courses having the same number of stitches. As indicated in Fig. 1 the number of stitches employed is substantially fewer than those which would be employed in the knitting of a fully fashioned hosiery, so that the welt, leg and heel portions of the blank as knitted measure approximately 111/2 inches across as compared with the 14 inches which is the usual measurement for the width of knitting of the welt and upper leg above the upper leg narrowings on the needle bar of a full-fashioned machine. The number of stitches which I employ in the leg knitting is thus an average number which is substantially less than the ntunber which would normally be employed for the knitting of the welt and upper portion of the leg, and is in excess of the number which would normally be used in the knitting of the ankle and heel. In the knitting of the welt very loose stitches indicated at 17 in Fig. 1 are employed to permit a full stretch of the blank during the subsequent boarding operation so that the welt portion will be expanded to the 14 inches shown in the dotted line showing of the conventionally knitted blank. The upper portion of the leg 14 is knitted with a graduated tightening of the stitches to an intermediate length indicated at 18 which when combined with the subsequent boarding operation Will cause the upper portion of the leg to be reduced in size as compared With the Welt. The middle portion or calf of the leg is then knitted Without change. In the l-ower part of the leg, approaching the ankle, there is a further gradual tightening of the stitches to a short length indicated at 19 which again in the subsequent boarding operation will tend to contract the lower leg and ankle of the blank so that it will lit tightly against the boarding form and thus will obtain the desired fit.

The leg including the welt, leg ankle and heel portions of the hosiery knitted as above described are in accordance with the invention combined with a foot which is knitted with stitches of short length indicated at 20 and is shaped by reducing the number of stitches in selected eolplrses` as, for example, by a conventional narrowing operation to produce a fully shaped full-fashioned type foot including a French toe. VAs particularly shown in Fig. l of the drawings the foot, generally designated at 22, is formed with upper foot narrowings which are introduced yat the upper end of the foot adjacent the heel, and with toe narowings which are utilized to form a French toe.

Further, in accordance with the invention my improved hosieiy blank knitted from the thermoplastic yarn as above set forth is` provided with reinforced heel areas 26 at eachrside of the blank and with reinforced sole areas 28 and the reinforced toe area 30 which are adapted to be boarded, together with the leg and foot portions of the hose, Vto produce a completed hose having the desired shape and set throughout its length. As will be evident fromv ari inspection of Fig. l of the drawings the inner selvage edgesof the short course reinforcing areas of the heel are formed with a bulge 32 which extends inwardly beyond the vertical line 34 of the inner selvage edge of the sole reinforcing area 28. The bulge 32 is formed by an inwardly sloping selvage 36 which at its upper end joins the narrow high heel reinforcing area 3S, and an outwardly sloping selvage 40 which intersects the inner edge 34 of the reinforced sole area 28. The remaining portions of the heel, sole, and toe reinforcing areas are in other respects formed in a normal manner. The inwardly extending heel'bulge 32 of the reinforced heel area formed by the sloping inner selvage edges 36 and 40 is so arranged in shape that when the hose is subsequently boarded, and the heel portion is stretched outwardly to give it the usual extended shape indicated at 38 in dotted lines in Fig. l, the inner selvage edges of the bulge 32 of the reinforced area will be shifted outwardly causing the sloping selvages 40 to be brought into line with the inner edge 34 of the sole area 28 to straighten out the line of the heel and sole reinforcing area.

The hosiery blank knitted from thermoplastic yarn and shaped as above described by controlling the number and character of the stitches making up the successively knitted courses of the fabric is closed by seaming together the selvage edges, and is then placed on a boarding form and subjected to the usual heat and drying operations whereby the hose is stretched and pressed to the exactly desired shape throughout its entire length.

Hosiery made in accordance with the present invention from thermoplastic yarn which is knitted in the form of a blank with selvage edges adapted to be subsequently seamed together and having the leg, ankle and heel shaped by loop length control, in combination with a foot having loops of minimum length and with the inner selvage edge of the heel .reinforcing area shaped, as above described, has the advantage that it provides a hosiery of simplified shape and design which is readily stretched by boarding to the desired shape, and which when finally pressed or set has been found to hold its shape as determined by the boarding to a remarkable degree. The leg comprising a at knitted blank having the selvage edges closed by seaming and shaped only by loop length control and boarding has been found to have a desirable quality of stretch and adaptability throughout the welt leg, ankle and heel portions, and to combine most effectively with a less elastic full-fashioned type foot made from tight loops and shaped by narrowing.

' A further'advantage of the construction consists in the arrangement of the above described heel and sole reinforcing areas in which the inner selvage edge of the heelis shaped or bulged inwardly, to `be drawn out in a straight line continuation of the inner selvage edge of the sole reinforcing area during the boarding operation.

The invention having been described what is claimed is: l. A flat hosiery blank manufactured from thermoplastic yarn comprising a leg including a welt top, leg portion, ankle and heel, and a foot including instep, sole and toe, said leg having all the courses thereof knitted of the sarne number of loops with straight selvage edges, the courses forming the welt top having loops of a maximum length, the first succeeding courses of the leg portion having loops successively reduced to an intermediate length, and the courses forming the lower leg portion having the loops further gradually reduced to a minimum length in the ankle and heel, and said foot having the first succeeding courses of the foot successively narrowed 'to reduce the number of loops in the foot, and having the last succeeding courses forming the toe further narrowed to reduce the number of loops in the toe to form a pointed toe, and all of the courses of said foot being knitted of loops of said minimum length, and forming selvage edges which are a continuation of the selvage edges ofthe lieg.

2. A hat hosiery blank manufactured from thermoplastic yarn comprising a leg including a welt utop, leg portion, ankle and heel, and a foot including instep, sole and toe, said leg having all the courses thereof knitted of the same number of loops with straight selvage edges, the courses forming the welt top having loops of a maximum length, the first succeeding courses of the leg portion having loops successively reduced to an intermediate length, and the courses forming the lower leg portion having the loops further gradually reduced to a minimum length on the lankle and heel, and said foot having the first succeeding courses of the foot successively narrowed to reduce the number of loops in the foot, and having the last succeeding courses forming the toe further narrowed to reduce the number of loops in the toe to form a pointed toe, and all of the courses of said foot being knitted of loops of said minimum length and forming selvage edges which are a continuation of the selvage edges of the leg, and a seam connecting the selvage edges of said blank to form the hose, said hose being thereafter stretched and set to the shape of the human leg and foot.

3. A flat hosiery blank manufactured from thermoplastic yarn comprising a leg including a welt top, leg portion, ankle and heel, and a foot including instep, sole and toe, said leg having all the courses thereof knitted of the same number of loops with straight selvage edges, the courses forming the welt top having loops of a maximum length, the rst succeeding courses of the leg portion having loops successively reduced to an intermediate length and the courses forming the lower leg portion having the loops further gradually reduced to a minimum length on the ankle and heel, and said foot having the first succeeding courses of the foot successively narrowed to reduce the number of loops in the foot, and having the last succeeding courses forming the toe further narrowed to reduce the number of loops in the toe to form a pointed toe, and all of the courses of said foot being knitted of loops of said minimum length and forming selvage edges which are a continuation of the selvage edges of the leg, and a seam connecting the selvage edges of said blank to form the hose, said hose being thereafter stretched and set to the shape of the human leg and foot, said blank having short course knitted heel, -sole and toe reinforcing areas, said heel reinforcing areas being knitted of short courses having inner selvage edges shaped to form inwardly extending bulges adapted to be straightened out by the subsequent stretching and setting of the heels to the shape of the human foot.

4. The method of knitting a seamed hosiery from thermoplastic yarn which comprises knitting a at hosiery blank with continuous selvage edges from welt to toe including the steps of knitting a leg having a welt top, leg portion and heel form courses with the same number of loops, knitting said Welt top courses with loops of a maximum length, knitting the first succeeding courses of the leg with loops successively reduced to animer- 2,853,867 5 6 mediate length, knitting courses of the lower leg portion and setting the hose by boarding to the shape of the with loops further gradually reduced to a minimum length human leg and foot in the ankle and heel, knitting a foot of courses with loops of said minimum length, successively narrowing the first References Cited in the le of this atent succeeding courses of the foot to reduce the number of p loops in the foot, and further narrowing the courses form- UNITED STATES PATENTS ing the toe to form a pointed toe, seaming the selvage 2,073,560 Margerison Mar. 9, 1937 edges of the blank to form a hose, and thereafter stretching 2,216,062 Williams Sept 24, 1940 

